If you’re a freshman and reading this, chances are you’re feeling one of two things: homesick or hung over.

If you’re hung over, you’ll be just fine at Cornell. Mind you, I’m not saying all of Cornell is made up of drunken debauchery … just most. But then again, it is college, and it happens. Even when you wake up the next morning and groggily think, “Oh God, that was a mistake!” chances are you’ll make that same mistake again and again. And maybe one more time next semester.

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. Your parents aren’t here, you can stay out all night, you can do whatever you want, blah, blah, blah. Even if I wrote a long dissertation about why it’s OK to have fun you should always be responsible, we both know you’re not going to listen.

Why?

Because you’re stupid.

It’s unfortunate, but something about college makes everyone lack common sense, morals and everything in between. Don’t say you’re not going to be like that because, oh, you definitely are going to be exactly like that. I said the exact same thing in the beginning, and now I could probably write you a novel about how tragically naïve and stupid I was as a freshman. And the saddest part? It didn’t even involve alcohol.

You see, I wasn’t hung over all through Orientation Week or any part of freshman year. I was just homesick. All the time. And it really didn’t help that people would look at me like I had just told them I murdered a small family in Southeast Asia after telling them where I’m from.

“So, why didn’t you stay in California?” they’d carefully ask.

I’d force a smile and say, “Well, I needed to go somewhere new …”

“And you decided to go to Hell,” they’d retort incredulously. “I mean, really. Why are you here?”

As the year progressed, I began to ask myself the exact same question. Why was I here? It snows all the time, it’s gloomy and it’s in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere. There were also excessive amounts of douchebaggery and trashy whore … ery. Oh, and nobody smiles. Ever. It seemed as if every girl I met had her tampon set on fire and every guy either had an inflated ego or a huge pole up his ass.

Call me vain, call it a superiority complex, but I decided that I was somehow better than everyone and everything. This was my first mistake of freshman year. I wallowed in the pathetic idea that I just didn’t belong here. It was stupid. And kind of emo.

The truth is everyone feels like they don’t belong at one point or another. Even the people who love Cornell so much that they hate going home for break have their moments too. Generalizations are easy to make, especially at such an isolated school with great emphasis on Greek life. It’s really hard not to think that Cornell is just a typical college. But you have to trust me when I say that we’re all on the same boat. You may not get along with everyone on this boat, but you’ll find your niche soon enough. The only reason you wouldn’t is if you don’t try and if you stubbornly believe you are an outcast.

Trust me, Cornell is going to feel overwhelming sometimes. And other times, it’s going to feel like a small piece of heaven. Cornell is going to be the place where you make some of your biggest mistakes, but it’s also going to the place where you learn from them and grow up a little. But it’s what you make of it. Keep an open mind and smile.

No, really: Smile more. I know it’s not sunshine, lollipops and rainbows around here, but … oh, whatever. Good luck on your first year!